PM: I'm here today at the Capital Wind Farm and I'm joined by Mike Kelly, our local Member for the area, and I want to very much thank our friends from Infigen for inviting us here today and letting me look at these wind turbines. What we're seeing today on display is the energy that we need for a clean energy future. These wind turbines are generating energy as we stand here. It's creating a stream of income for the people who own this land.
It's good for farmers, creating a stream of income they can rely on. It's good for generating electricity, harnessing the power of the wind, and it means that that clean energy can then be used right around the national electricity grid.
We're actually standing here at Capital Wind Farm, which is the biggest wind farm in New South Wales by a country mile - the biggest wind farm.
We've also had the opportunity to meet some wind farm apprentices, young people who are learning their trade here in the clean energy industry.
The Government is committed to a renewable energy target, that 20% of the energy we use comes from renewable energy sources by 2020, but that renewable energy target was always designed to work with a price on carbon.
If we are going to drive this clean energy future we must price carbon, and here is a practical example of the difference that it can make: a stream of revenue for farmers; clean energy; young people getting the skills that they need for the future.
This is one of the reasons that I am so determined to price carbon. It will drive a clean energy future for this country. We will see more energy coming from sources like wind, solar, tide and hot rocks.
We are a country that it blessed with renewable energy sources. We've got to get on with using this clean energy and to do that we have to price carbon.
I'm very happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, 33 busloads of protestors are on their way to Canberra this morning. (Inaudible) suggest you've got a bit of PR work to do in selling this to voters, and also, are you (inaudible) perception that you've broken (inaudible)
PM: Well, of course Australia's a great democracy and in a great democracy people can make their voice heard by attending peaceful protests, so that's what's happening today in front of Parliament House.
Also today, the Minister for Climate Change, Greg Combet, will receive a petition signed by around 10,000 working Australians, 10,000 people who are urging the Government to act on climate change. That petition will be presented to Greg Combet by the ACTU leader, Ged Kearney, and also by the World Wildlife Fund, by WWF, but it's around 10,000 people who are also wanting their voice to be heard, saying that they want us to get on with tackling climate change and pricing carbon.
Now, I understand there's always going to be a variety of views in the community, we'll see that on display today, but pricing carbon is the right thing for our nation's future and that's why I'm determined to do it.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister will you take the opportunity to address this gathering? You said that it's a big job ahead persuading people that this is the right course of action. Will you talk to these people to try and persuade them?
PM: I talk to people about climate change and the need to price carbon every day, and I'll keep doing that. I talk to people who have indicated they're already pro addressing climate change, and pro carbon pricing. I also talk to people who have doubts or who are opposed and I will keep doing that.
This is something that we need to talk through with the Australian community, but as Prime Minister I am determined to act. Our nation cannot afford to be left behind. We need a clean energy future. The world is moving. We too can have a clean energy economy and here we are today seeing exactly what that clean energy economy would look like.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what about the argument that the cost to build wind farms such as this outweighs the benefit in terms of the amount of power it produces?
PM: Well, we are seeing today power being produced and the amount of power coming from this wind farm is considerable, so the economics of this stacks up. This business wouldn't be here today if it wasn't a viable way of producing electricity, but pricing carbon will give an additional incentive for these clean energy sources of the future. That's why pricing carbon, working with our renewable energy target, will drive a clean energy economy.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Chairman of BlueScope Steel says the consultation process with business (inaudible)
PM: Well, look, I completely reject that suggestion. We are engaged in genuine and direct dialogue with business. We have a business roundtable to do that and the CEO of Bluescope has been participating in it and I welcome that. I want him there. I want his voice there.
As Prime Minister, I meet directly with Australian businesses and talk about carbon pricing. The Minister for Climate Change meets directly with Australian businesses and talks through carbon pricing. The Deputy Prime Minister does that; the Parliamentary Secretary does that. Right across my team people are engaged, talking to Australian businesses about pricing carbon and we're doing that because we are genuinely interested in their views.
Now, can I remind people there's been a little bit of commentary in the media that maybe the Government would have been better off to wait, to wholly design a carbon price proposal and then to announce every detail. Well, one reason I didn't do that, one reason I announced the mechanism first, is that I genuinely wanted to hear the voice of Australian business as we design the details of this scheme, and that's exactly what we're doing now.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) the Chairman says (inaudible) not listening to (inaudible)
PM: Well, the door's open and we are listening and we will continue to listen through the business roundtable, as well as through our direct engagement with business.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, when Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister he went and spoke to the people protesting about (inaudible) Will you go down and talk to the people protesting today (inaudible)
PM: Look, I talk to people every day about carbon pricing and I'll continue to do that. The people who've come to Canberra today have come to make their voices heard. They will be exercising their democratic right to protest. That's appropriate.
We've got people presenting a petition, 10,000 signatures pro pricing carbon, but the reality here is, as Prime Minister, I have determined what I believe is right for this nation's future. What's right for this nation's future is pricing carbon, creating the clean energy economy we need for the future.
If you care about jobs in the future, then you're for pricing carbon. If you care about our environment for the future, then you're for pricing carbon. I'll keep making that argument and we will act.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I understand you're meeting with representatives from the Youth Climate Coalition today who are in favour of the carbon tax, so why won't you meet with people who are against the carbon tax?
PM: Look, I meet with people - let's just be clear about this - I meet with people every day with a variety of views. We were talking before about the views of Australian businesses. I meet with industry leaders, I meet with trade union representatives, I meet with non-government organisations, I move around in the community and I talk to people day in, day out, about the issues that define this nation's future and of course carbon pricing is one of them.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, when it comes to meeting people, will you be meeting with Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer today when she comes to Parliament, and are you advising your MPs that meeting her is a good idea?
PM: She is on a private visit to Australia and my understanding is she will be in Parliament House today and will meet a number of Members of Parliament. I will not be meeting her, but a number of Members of Parliament will.
JOURNALST: Prime Minister, was Christopher Pyne clutching a straws yesterday when he was drawing parallels between the climate change debate and the Holocaust?
PM: Well, I think we've got to be a bit clear about this and a bit factual about it. John Howard used the terminology ‘climate change denier'. The terminology ‘climate change denier' is very commonly used. People would read it in the newspaper every day of the week.
I'll stop calling Tony Abbott a climate change denier when he stops denying the science of climate change.
The problem here is that Mr Abbott prefers to play the politics rather than look at the national interest, and some days when he's playing the politics he thinks it's smart to deny the science of climate change. Well, if Mr Abbott stops denying the science of climate change, we will stop calling him a climate change denier.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on the (inaudible)
PM: Look we continue to see military action in Libya to impose the no fly zone. We welcome that. Action's being taken to put the no fly zone into operation to take out Colonel Qaddafi's air defences and also to target his command and control structure. This is authorised by the UN Security Council resolution. We are seeing nations cooperate together in that military action and this all about protecting the people of Libya from the very gross violence we've seen Colonel Qaddafi prepared to perpetuate against his own people.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister the Greens leader Bob Brown says that he didn't force the Government into taking up a carbon price unwillingly. Is his memory of how the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee meetings have gone a little dotty?
PM: I made a decision here. I made a decision that to get on in this Parliament with pricing carbon I needed to work with others to get the legislation through.
I could have said ‘it's all too hard, I won't deal with this major challenge for the nation's future, I as Prime Minister will just sit idle as this country gets left behind and other countries move to a cleaner energy future.'
I made a decision to act rather than not act, and in making that decision, clearly with the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee, we needed to work through to get the best possible consensus on the carbon pricing mechanism. That's the mechanism I announced a few weeks ago.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what did you think of Tony Abbott mocking you for attending the royal wedding because you don't believe in God, marriage or the royal family?
PM: Look, Tony Abbott's spends time talking about me. I spend time talking about the issues that matter for this country's future. That's my job as Prime Minister and that's what I'm intending to do.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you confirm that the situation on Christmas Island is under control, and (inaudible) is it true that some (inaudible) have been questioned by the AFP without (inaudible)
PM: I'm not in a position to make comment on Australian Federal Police operational matters and I won't do so. The advice to me is that the situation at Christmas Island is calm. The situation has been calm for a number of nights now. The Australian Federal Police are in control of the Christmas Island detention facility.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) discrepancy with numbers (inaudible)
PM: Look, my advice is the Australian Federal Police are in control of the centre and the situation is calm.
OK, thank you very much. We've got Parliament to get to.